Hannah Benassi Catie, I’m excited that we get to connect again through this typed studio visit. Last time we were together you were heading for Madrid. Fill me in, how has life and studio practice been since PADA, where are you based now? I’ve seen via instagram that you are creating a new body of work - loved the blood orange aesthetic that was going on. Your painting layers are as vibrant as I remember!  

Catie Dillon Hi Hannah! I’ve been looking forward to catching up with you. It’s been quite the year. Our sunny escape to Casa de Cerca feels like it happened just yesterday. Thinking of that time has brought me a lot of solace in the bleak New York winter. 

After PADA, I travelled throughout Portugal, Spain, and the US, carrying my completed paintings with me on my journey. They endured on planes, trains, and boats, survived the wrath of a leaky hostel ceiling, and missed the long flight home. For this reason, I developed a really strange connection and companionship with the work. During the residency, I was making paintings about world building and mapmaking, and these works seemed to absorb my wandering spirit, becoming talismanic guides. 

I ended up showing the work together at The McDonough Museum of Art in Youngstown, Ohio, a city not too far from my hometown. That show really marked the end of my travels. The paintings were home.  

Now, I am in graduate school for my MFA at Hunter College in New York City. Grad school is enlightening and confusing and wonderful and stressful all at once. We’re given the freedom to experiment and explore, but somehow I feel the least free in my New York City studio. The claustrophobia of the city and the constant traffic outside my studio window are creeping into the aesthetics of my work. The paintings are much larger and more explosive. I often feel like I am physically wrestling with them. I remember that you were working on a large scale when I visited your studio in Lisbon. How did that turn out? What have you been up to in the studio since then? 

HB What a day that was! Oh how I'd love to have another crisp beer at Casa de Cerca whilst looking out at one of the best views of Lisboa. Wow, indeed. This means each artwork has an extra special story to share having done all that travelling alongside you! 

Yes, I understand what you mean about building a connection to your artworks. I found that when I was away from the studio at PADA or travelling around Portugal during my residency in Lisbon, my mind was always with my work. Maybe it became a little obsessive, but I enjoyed every moment. A wandering spirit is exactly how I’ll remember you! Yes, the paintings you produced at PADA definitely echoed the sense of freedom, whilst your geometric details created a feeling of almost grounding moments.

I had so much to absorb during this summer as it was not only my first residency experience, but also the first time I’ve travelled to Portugal and travelled to somewhere unfamiliar in the sense of space and people. As soon as I got there, met our amazing group and got stuck into making, I knew I hit gold with my first residency - lucky me!

Like yourself, I allowed the experience of being at PADA to drive my work. I originally wished to plan a project specifically for the residency but with covid restrictions and 4 cancelled flights, it all started to crush my hope of making it out in time. To add to this I've never been much of a planner so the last minute rush and packing of materials was definitely more my style of preparation haha! As chaotic as the journey out was, my studio at PADA somewhat shared this sense of organised yet very uncertain states of working.

You left me last working at Duplex | Air in Lisbon. I was creating a large scale painting for an exhibition back home in Edinburgh. Having the chance to work in both PADA and Duplex studios, I knew my next focus was to secure my first studio space back home. I’ve since exhibited artworks with Rafiki Gallery, TATHA Gallery and expanded on my digital skills completing my first ever NFT collection. How about yourself, are there any future projects in the pipeline? I’m sure your MFA is keeping you very busy! I’d love to know if you have any moments of Barreiro sweeping back into your work or any techniques learnt at PADA that have stayed with you?

CD That sounds amazing, Hannah! Like you, I think of Barreiro often, especially the warm June light. The way the buildings and the architecture absorbed and reflected light is something that I revisit in my memories. Upon my return to the United States, I started to explore various painting grounds, thinking about the ways in which they too can absorb and reflect light. I just made a painting with a dark ground, attempting to bring life to a black rectilinear void. 

Also at PADA, I was collecting soil from the industrial park to create pigment. The rich, natural colours combined with my artificial acrylics created an interesting conversation. Various combinations of soil, paint, medium, and water created different effects. I am continuing to discover the alchemical properties of paint and I am excited about its possibilities. My studio is becoming more and more of a laboratory. For me, paintings have always been a place of wonder and magic. I want this feeling to be evident not only in the image but in the materiality as well.

Right now, I am really focused on the work. I am in the middle of solving many problems in my practice, and quite frankly, it’s a great place to be. I was recently watching an interview with Phillip Guston. He spoke of his dissatisfaction with paintings that are too easy to make. The real paintings are born out of struggle. The idea of satisfaction through struggle is something that I have been circling in the studio. The new paintings begin with the gesture of the pour and I rely on chance to build the infrastructure of the painting. I will push, pull, excavate, and manipulate the pour until the painting is solved. In the end, I want to invoke a space that feels ethereal, disorienting, and open to discovery. I search for moments of struggle in conjunction with moments of ease. 

What are you working on right now? I would love to hear how your work has grown and changed too! 

HB What a piece! Again, you manage to create such bold expressive surfaces refined with structural or geometric details so well, just as I remember! Your material investigation is definitely something I share an interest in. Absolutely, couldn’t agree more! I always find that my best work has come from a messy journey, where I have to continuously rework rejecting layers. I can definitely see your energy and expressive exploration of mediums and applications of paint in your studio - lots going on all at once! I have to say seeing a glimpse into your vibrant and positively messy space is giving me the motivation I am currently needing so thank-you!

Over the last few months I solely worked on creating 15 new artworks for TATHA Gallery. 

The opportunity to exhibit this many works gave me direction and the motivation I definitely needed once I returned with a lot of creative energy generated from PADA and DUPLEX AIR. For me, this was the first body of work I produced where I wasn’t worried or concerned about the outcome. I allowed myself to discover each surface as I applied an intuitive use of materials or mixing mediums and focused on just enjoying the studio routine. I have shared above a couple of paintings that were included in the gallery space titled ‘Summer in Lisbon’ and ‘Golden Sundown’. And of course, exhibitions are such a great opportunity to produce artworks across various sizes and I was definitely eager to produce another large scale painting as it allowed me to be more physically expressive in the process.

Currently I am working on another digital project. Whilst splitting my routine between laptop editing and the studio, I have decided to allow myself this time to focus on experimentation off the canvas or wooden surface. Thinking back to my studio process at PADA, I had many creative methods happening all at once from fabric patchworks, large to small scale paintings and detailed drawings. Thinking about certain details and qualities I produced throughout these different methods has inspired me to reintroduce drawing and powdered toner experiments in painting and printmaking exercises. 

It has been so lovely to reconnect with you Catie through this Long Range Studio Visit. Because I work alone in my studio I don’t get many opportunities to bounce conversations and ideas off fellow artists. It has been wonderful to see what you're up to in greater depth and your busy and colourful work space has definitely given me a great spark of energy! I hope your crit went well last week and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you get up to during the rest of your masters! 

CD That installation shot of your two exhibited paintings is wonderful, Hannah! Your sensibility of colour is really fascinating. Though the colours feel familiar, the palette in the large painting is almost unnamable. I am left with this imprint or memory of its complex colour. I am looking forward to seeing your digital project. To me, your paintings are about movement and gesture. Removing that gesture through digitization sounds quite interesting! 

It’s been so lovely to reconnect with you as well Hannah! The work is looking really great. How amazing would an in-person studio visit be next time?! It sounds like a dream… 

Thank you to Hannah Benassi and Catie Dillon for discussing about their experience at PADA.

Hannah and Catie were at PADA residency in Summer 2021.